BACKGROUND: Glomerulonephritis is a rare yet serious group of diseases with a high risk of progression to end-stage renal disease. For optimal healthcare planning, detailed epidemiological and demographic data are essential. Despite their clinical relevance, these data are largely lacking in Switzerland.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to assess the incidence of the different forms of glomerulonephritis in the western part of Switzerland and its changes over the last 10 years, compared with international data.

METHODS: We listed all renal biopsy reports analysed between 2007 and 2016 at the University hospital of Lausanne, the renal pathology reference centre of all hospitals in the cantons of Vaud, Fribourg, Valais and Neuchâtel. Biopsies with a first diagnosis of primary glomerulonephritis were included in the analysis. The incidence was calculated as the number of patients newly diagnosed with glomerulonephritis divided by the number of inhabitants of all the above-mentioned cantons during the year under review, as retrieved from the federal statistical office of Switzerland.

RESULTS: We collected biopsy reports from 864 patients between 2007 and 2016; 168 biopsies met the inclusion criteria. The most common primary glomerulonephritis was IgA nephropathy at 32.7% of cases, followed by lupus nephritis (29.8%) and pauci-immune glomerulonephritis (11.9%). Overall, the mean incidence of glomerulonephritis was 1.3/100,000/year. Between 2007 and 2016, the incidence of all glomerulonephritis taken together remained stable. The same was true for the incidence of IgA nephropathy, lupus nephritis and pauci-immune glomerulonephritis. In contrast, we observed a trend towards higher creatinine levels, proteinuria and degree of interstitial fibrosis at diagnosis.

CONCLUSION: The incidence of glomerulonephritis in the western part of Switzerland was low and remained stable over time, in line with European data.

AIMS: We explored the trend in lung cancer incidence rates among a young Swiss population (30–54 years old) by sex from 1990 to 2014 to investigate the birth cohort effect on lung cancer. We evaluated smoking rates from 1992 to 2012 to explain sex differences in lung cancer incidence rates.

METHODS: The data of the Swiss National Institute for Cancer Epidemiology and Registration (NICER) were used. We extracted the data of age-standardized (world) and age-specific incidence rates (per 100,000 people at risk) of trachea, bronchus, and lung cancers by sex and year of diagnosis from 1990 to 2014. The data on tobacco consumption were generated from the Swiss Federal Statistical Office. These data were based on Swiss Health Surveys, involving 5-year intervals from 1992 to 2012.

RESULTS: Incidence rates decreased among men in the age groups 40–44, 45–49, and 50–54 years. An increased rate was seen among women in age group 50–54 years. Among men, rates generally decreased in successive birth cohorts, whereas among women, the rates increased from the cohort born in 1935–1939 up to the 1950s, and then were steady. In the cohort born in 1940–1944 an increased rate was seen until the 1960s, and then they decreased. In the cohort born in 1945–1949 the rates remained steady. Smoking prevalence was higher among men than among women in all age and birth groups. Among men born in the mid-1950s or mid-1960s, smoking prevalence has become higher for younger compared to older men. This pattern was only seen among younger women born in the mid-1960s.

CONCLUSIONS: Decreasing lung cancer incidence rates in young Swiss men but increasing rates in young women reflect the evolution of the smoking epidemic in the world. Our findings indicate an urgent need for implementing prevention strategies that target tobacco cessation and prevention among young women.

OBJECTIVE: The methods used to diagnose and classify ovarian cancer have changed over the past decade. We used hospital registry data to assess the incidence, treatment durations and hospital costs of ovarian cancer in Switzerland.

METHODS: We carried out a retrospective analysis of a hospital registry covering all inpatient care episodes in Switzerland between 1998 and 2012. Ovarian cancer incidence was assessed by identifying patients with a first ovarian cancer diagnosis as the main reason for hospital stay after an event-free period. We assessed the duration and cost of ovarian cancer treatment sequences as well as the evolution of hospital patient volume over time.

RESULTS: The average age-adjusted incidence rate was 14.6 per 100,000 women per year between 2004 and 2012. This rate is substantially higher (+35.5%) than the corresponding rate published by the National Institute for Cancer Epidemiology and Registration (NICER). Hospital patient volume was low in most cases, with more than 40% of patients treated in hospitals with fewer than 20 cases per year. However, the share of patients treated in hospitals with more than 30 cases per year has increased substantially since 2009.

CONCLUSIONS: We found a substantial difference between the ovarian cancer incidence estimate based on hospital registry data and the corresponding estimate by NICER. The reasons for this substantial difference should be carefully explored. A case-wise comparison could determine whether the difference is due to over- or under-reporting in one of the two registries. The low ovarian cancer patient volume in many hospitals is in conflict with the numbers required for certified specialised cancer centres. The recent increase in patient volume in specialised cancer centres, however, might reflect a growing understanding of the needs and requirements of comprehensive cancer care.

With an estimated antibody prevalence of 0.7% in the low-risk population, hepatitis C virus (HCV) endemicity in Switzerland is low. We reviewed data from mandatory hepatitis C surveillance for 1988–2015 in order to describe the evolution of acute HCV infections and newly reported non-acute cases, and their epidemiological features. Crude and stratified annual incidence and notification rates and rate ratios were calculated using Poisson regression. Acute HCV incidence peaked in 2002 at 1.8 cases per 100,000 population, then declined sharply, levelling at around 0.7/100,000 from 2006. Notification rates for non-acute HCV cases peaked in 1999 (38.6/100,000), decreasing to 16.8/100,000 in 2015. Men constituted 65.5% of acute cases and 60.4% of non-acute cases. During the periods 1992–1995 and 2012–2015, the median age of acute cases increased from 28 to 37 and of non-acute cases from 32 to 48 years. The exposure leading to most acute (90.4%) and non-acute (71.9%) cases was presumably in Switzerland. Despite a sharp decrease since 2000, injecting drugs was the main reported exposure for both acute (63.8%) and non-acute (66.6%) cases, with a known exposure, followed by sexual contact with an infected person (18.9% and 10.3% respectively). Among all acute cases, the number of men who have sex with men increased sharply after the mid-2000s, totalling 41 during 2012–2015 (25.7%). Although the HCV epidemic peaked in 2000 – probably as a result of measures to control iatrogenic and percutaneous transmission – Switzerland must maintain prevention and surveillance.